The Consequence of the Rise
by CinderFallOfHaven
Summary: It's the night of the fall of Beacon, but a miracle occurs and Cinder fails. But at the given victory, something must be taken. Something Pyrrha and the others learn too well.
1. Night

Chapter 1 – Night

"Please! Just save Pyrrha!"  
"But Jaune, what about-" but it was too late. Jaune hurled his scroll down to the pavement and collapsed to his knees.

"What will we do?" Weiss was, for the first time, at a loss for words.

"I have a plan." Ruby reassured Weiss.

"You always do." Weiss smiled weakly. It was a long night, and Weiss was tired from all the fighting. They stood next to each other, prepared to fight to oncoming Grimm. This was their last stand to take back their school.

Pyrrha Nikos, the superstar of Beacon Academy, fought hard against Cinder Fall. She used everything at her disposal against Cinder. Ozpin's desk, the giant clock gears, her shield, and even herself; but she wasn't giving up. Pyrrha was determined to stop Cinder and save Beacon from a huge catastrophe. This was her destiny. Either live to tell the tale, or die a hero. She had already known this ever since she found out how amazing she was at fighting. The beautiful up-and-coming huntress was ready to fight the world. Never did she imagine a night such as this one to ever happen in her lifetime. Never did she imagine that the tournament was to be rigged to start the downfall of a country. Never did she imagine that she would kill someone else without knowing what they were. But she wasn't going to stand for it any longer. This was her school, too. And she was not going to rest until she successfully brought peace back to Vale. So, she kept fighting Cinder to win for everyone who had lost.

Pyrrha threw her shield just as Cinder was taking aim and they met in the middle. However, Cinder's arrow broke down and moved around her shield only to reconfigure on the other side. And it kept going until it stuck its mark in Pyrrha's Achilles Tendon. She fell down on the floor, no longer able to move. She grunted as she used her semblance to snap the arrow in half.

Cinder moved around Pyrrha, "it's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours. But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined." She smirked in victory.

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked weakly.

"Yes." Cinder stood back a few steps and remade her bow and arrow. She took aim directly at Pyrrha's chest prepared to fire, when Ruby arrived on the scene. Her semblance kicked into high gear, she grabbed her scythe from her back holster and cut the arrow in half. Cinder gasped and her eyes grew large. Her plan was not working any longer.

"Leave Pyrrha alone you, vile witch!" Ruby held Crescent Rose, prepared to strike again. "I will not let another person die on my watch!" Ruby readily jumped into action and ran directly towards Cinder.

"Ruby, no! She's too powerful!" Pyrrha croaked from behind her, but Ruby didn't care. Cinder had already taken Penny away from her, she wasn't about to let her take Pyrrha, too.

Ruby closed in on Cinder. 50 feet. She repositioned her scythe, ready to attack. 20 feet. Cinder was beginning to use the fire magic yet again. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The Grimm dragon was screeching near Pyrrha, Pyrrha was crying out for Ruby, Ruby was dangerously close to Cinder, and Cinder was blasting fire from her hand. Ruby ducked just in time and sliced Cinder in half. The woman shudder as the life faded from her eyes, but not before her other hand hit Ruby. The fall of Beacon had been prevented. Cinder had been killed, Ruby was slowly burning away and Pyrrha was running towards her.

"No, please! Ruby, you can't die!" Pyrrha choked out as tears streamed down her face. "Please, you were one of the few people that made me feel different. You can't…" Ruby's eyes fluttered shut and her pulse slowed to a stop. She had passed away. Pyrrha held her close and cried loudly as the Grimm dragon began to fly away. The night had finally ended, and morning had come.


	2. Morning

Chapter 2 – Morning

Pyrrha walked all the way down Beacon tower back to the ground. She held the dead body of Ruby Rose in her arms, too shocked to let her go. The moon was starting to set and the sun was making a pink coloring on the horizon to announce the arrival of day.

"Pyrrha! We're so glad to see you're okay!" Weiss saw Pyrrha walking from the courtyard and rushed over to see her. "Where's Ruby? I need to talk to her about her wonderful plan to save you…" The heiress stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss looked from Pyrrha's distant glazed over eyes to lifeless Ruby that was nearly puppet like. "Ruby is, she's just sleeping, right?" Weiss's eyes began to tear up. "She's only asleep, right?" She looked at Pyrrha. "Answer me, dammit! Tell me she's only asleep! Tell me this is a joke!" Her voice began to crack. "Please…" Her face was soon messed up as tears streamed down her face. Weiss wailed out in pain. Pyrrha didn't notice her. She only noticed the sun.

Soon after Weiss started crying, Nora and Ren ran over to see what was wrong, but stopped when they noticed Pyrrha. Nora didn't need to even ask, she fell to her knees and put one hand to her chest. Ren showed no emotion, except for his mouth that was contorting in pained shapes. Others who were in the area started to approach Pyrrha and Ruby. No time had passed when Blake appeared among the crowd, helping along Yang.

"What is going on? Move out of the way!" Blake was pushing and shoving people to get towards the center. "Move!" Finally, the two managed to break the crowd and emerged in the center. "Pyrrha?"

Yang looked up from the ground to see Pyrrha. "Pyrrha?" Her eyes locked on to Ruby instantly. "Ruby?" She let go of Blake and hobbled over to Pyrrha. "It can't be…not…not my sweet little rose. I don't…I can't." Yang used her one arm to hold onto Ruby's head. Her mouth slightly opened, her eyes still closed and her chest moved no more. "Ruby? You have to wake up. It's your sister, Ruby. You don't have to keep pretending for your sister." Yang shook Ruby to wake her up. "Wake up, Ruby! This isn't funny!" She shook her violently. "WAKE UP! PLEASE, WAKE UP!" Blake ran forward and pulled Yang away from Ruby's body. Yang was thrashing against Blake trying to get back to Ruby. "She's my little sister! I can't have anything happen to my little sister!"

"Yang, please stop." Blake was crying while holding back Yang. "There's nothing you can do anymore, Yang." She was straining against the force Yang was exerting. There was nothing that could be said anymore.

A few days after the death of Ruby Rose, Adam Taurus was caught by Vale police. He was sentenced to death for terrorism, murder, and treason against the country. Weiss and Blake stayed by Yang's side. There was not much more that could be done. Yang was no longer her cheerful self, and she did not show signs of ever being able to recover. Taiyang couldn't bring himself to face Yang. After everything that had happened at Beacon, it was too much. He had failed to get to Vale to help the girls and now he was paying for his mistake.

Nora, Ren, and Jaune all managed to get Pyrrha to the hospital. She was still in so much shock, that she couldn't even manage to get there on her own. She was given some drugs that would allow her to sleep, and she had the rest of the arrow removed from her heel. She was lying in the bed when Jaune entered the room to talk to Ren and Nora. They were all in the corner, discussing issues, when Pyrrha woke up. She sat up in the hospital bed and looked at the corner.

"What are you three doing?" She said dully.

Nora turned to Pyrrha and gulped, "Pyrrha, now's not the time to be talking about this with you."

"Tell me. I can take it." She spit angrily. "No matter what it is, it won't do any more damage than what has already been done."

"Pyrrha, you really need to get more rest. You've been through a lot and had a lot of surgery done to reconstruct your heel, please get some rest." Ren softly replied. He was not about to have Pyrrha blame herself. It was not Pyrrha's fault, and it would break Ren to see her do anything like that.

"No. I want to hear what you three are talking about. I was there, I should be the first one told about new updates." Pyrrha glared at the three. "Now, tell me."

Jaune looked at Nora and Ren. They both were telling him no, but he sighed and began to speak. "Look, Pyrrha. We were talking about Yang's condition. She seems to have gotten worse lately and everyone is starting to get really worried about her."

"Worried?" Pyrrha looked at Jaune. She wanted to tell him how much it pained her to even think about that family. Ruby was her friend. Watching her die was the most heartbreaking thing that Pyrrha ever witnessed. "Please, Jaune. Tell me anything new about Yang the minute it happens. I want to know. Please." Pyrrha looked out the window towards the direction of Patch. "I want to repay them in any way that I can. Ruby saved my life, it is a debt I'm not sure how I can ever give back to them."

"You can start by getting some rest, Pyrrha." Jaune laid his hand on her shoulder. "A completely well Pyrrha is better than fresh out of surgery Pyrrha." He hugged her quickly and rubbed her back. It made her feel comfort just to be loved by someone else. "Can you at least do that for me?"

"I can, Jaune." Pyrrha smiled weakly. She was ready to try anything to get better. Whatever it takes.

Meanwhile, back on Patch. Weiss and Blake were in the kitchen of the cozy cottage that Taiyang owned. They were talking about how to help Yang get out of her funk when they heard the front door open. They turned to see what it was, but guessed it was just Taiyang getting back from wherever he had gone to.

"I'll go upstairs and check on Yang. I'll remove the washcloth that we had on her forehead, wring it out, and place a new one on." Weiss suggested.

"That sounds nice, I'll make some tea for us while you do so." Blake smiled warmly.

"Make it coffee and you have a deal." Weiss smiled back. She walked up the stairs and down the hall to Yang's room. She knocked on the door to alert Yang she was entering. "Yang, I'm coming in to check on you." She opened the door and instantly stopped. Yang's bed was empty.


	3. Day

Chapter 3 – Day

The instance Pyrrha heard the news about Yang going missing, she bolted out of the hospital. Jaune, Ren, and Nora could have only prayed to be able to stop her. Pyrrha still had a reconstructed heel to worry about, so she tried not to put too much weight on her right foot if she could help it.

Weiss had called in hysterics about Yang leaving the house and they didn't stop her. She kept apologizing about it, but she had no idea as to where she could have gone; but Pyrrha had an idea. Ruby had told Pyrrha once of her favorite place to go whenever she's feeling down, so Pyrrha guessed to try there first. She boarded a ferry and was soon on the shore of Patch sprinting across the entire island. She knew where she could go, but she didn't know exactly how to get there. So, she took any path and with luck on her side, she should be able to find the right place in no time. A right by the trees, a left by the large rock formation, a right straight up a hill, and then Pyrrha found herself in a big open field. She looked around the entire prairie looking for any signs of Yang. Any tufts of grass out of place, any figures hiding out, even just a lone Grimm walking somewhere undeterminable. Anything to prove Yang was nearby.

Pyrrha cupped her hands to her mouth and shouted, "Yang! Where are you?" But knew it was an exercise in futility and gave up after a first attempt. She moved around the prairie looking for other paths leading anywhere. She was so involved in looking around her that she didn't notice something sticking out of the ground. Her foot hit it and that got her attention. She leaned over and picked it up. It was a bullet shell that bore the symbol of a rose. It was silver and slightly rusted, which proves it had been out in the grass for a while now. Pyrrha sighed and breathed in. Which path could Yang have gone to? The wind picked up and blew the grass aside in waves that made it look like it was shimmering. It picked up Pyrrha's red ponytail and she covered her eyes as the sun beat down on her. Her feet felt the cool soft earth and the scratchy sensation of the grass. She was about to turn back when she noticed the wind pushing big branches aside to show an overgrown path. She instantly made her way across the field towards it, hoping that this was the one she needed to take. After she got out of the field and onto the path, she felt a new breeze blow her way. Overhead, the tree branches and leaves formed a canopy which was almost tunnel-like where the sun broke through every now and then and shone on her face. She continued down the path until the bright light announced that the end of the tunnel had arrived and she soon found herself just 50 feet away from a cliff. On the edge of the cliff were two tombstones each decorated with a rose, and between them was Yang Xiao Long.

"Yang! There you are!" Pyrrha exclaimed happily. "Everyone has been so worried about you, we didn't know where you had gone to or why you left." Pyrrha moved closer to where Yang was sitting and noticed for the first time that Yang was holding onto Ruby's cloak. Pyrrha stopped for a minute and looked down at her feet. They were dirty and muddied from her walk all over Patch without any shoes. "Yang, I know how you're feeling right now…"

"Do you? Or are you just saying that." Yang didn't look up. Her arm had been bandaged up and she had the same distant look Pyrrha had the morning after Cinder's attack on Beacon. "You don't know what it's like for me right now. You just don't." Yang looked out towards the cliff.

"Yang, please. I understand more than you think I do." Pyrrha clutched her shirt that she was wearing. "She was my friend, Yang. Losing her was like losing a big portion of my heart." Pyrrha kept looking down at her feet. "Even though I did not lose as much as you did that night, I still lost a great deal."

"No, Pyrrha. You don't get it. I'm still losing things and you won't even understand them. My dad leaves every morning to go into Vale to drink away his sorrows. I'm losing my own father because of what happened that night." Yang's grip on Ruby's cloak tightened. "My mom left me when I was young, my second mom died two years after Ruby was born, I lost my arm, I lost my sister, and now I'm losing my dad." Drops started to streak down Yang's face. "I can't stand losing so much with nothing to gain in return." She turned to look at Pyrrha. "How could you, Ms. Perfect, ever understand any of that?"

"Yang, I might not have gone through the same life that you have, and I may never well do so, but…" Pyrrha was beginning to say.

"But nothing. You never will. I won't have to." Yang clambered to her feet and threw down the cloak. "No, I won't." She pulled something out from her shirt and opened it. She had a locket around her neck and the inside was a picture of young Yang and Ruby. Yang shut the locket and began to stumble to the edge.

"Yang, no! Stop!" Pyrrha panicked. She had no idea what to do in this situation. Yang was getting closer and closer to the edge and Pyrrha had no plan. "Stop! Don't do it!"

"Try me." Yang turned around and began to fall backwards off the edge.

"NO!" Pyrrha put both her hands out where right then, her semblance activated grabbing hold of the locket and Yang's belt, keeping her suspended right at the edge. "You don't want to do this, Yang!"

"Let me go, Pyrrha! I can't lose any more! It will hurt me more than ever to live!" Yang was sobbing at this point. She could no longer hold it in anymore. "I just want to die!"

"Yang, you need to understand this! You will be losing a lot more by jumping off the cliff than if you didn't!" Pyrrha wasn't ever planning on letting Yang go. "I made a promise, Yang. I promised that I would repay your family for the service that Ruby did for me. And I'm not about to let you throw away your life! If you die right here and now, Taiyang will have lost two loving daughters and two wives. Do you think he wants that? Weiss and Blake could never live with themselves and I could never face Jaune, Nora, and Ren ever again because I had failed to stop you from doing this. Please, Yang. We all love you and we want to be there for you." Pyrrha felt herself get choked up. "Please, Yang, get off the ledge and come home."

Yang looked at Pyrrha with wide eyes and began to cry. "P-Pyrrha! I'm sorry!"

"We can help you through this, Yang. There's no better medicine for this kind of pain than people who love and support you." Pyrrha was beginning to strain with her semblance. "Will you come back with us, Yang?"

Yang thought about it for a few seconds and gulped. "Yes, I will do whatever it takes to recover. Just having all of you by my side will help, and knowing that you all want to help warms my heart in ways you can't even imagine." Pyrrha sighed in relief. Yang set her feet back on the ground as Pyrrha pulled her forward, after she had both feet firmly grounded, she broke into a sprint and held onto Pyrrha. "I don't know what got into me, Pyrrha! I was okay with jumping off the cliff to fill the hole in my heart!"

Pyrrha gripped Yang and started to rub her back, "there, there, Yang. We're here for you." Yang's sobs echoed around the entire area and Pyrrha finally got a good look at the tombstones. One said "Summer Rose 'thus kindly scatter'" and "Ruby Rose 'will forever blossom in our hearts.'"


End file.
